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That's for sure definitely sounds like old school coach Bob Knight-like approach along with team hazing that is no longer tolerated this day and age! Teammates kicking a teammate tossed out of practice! I wonder if there were just no strict guardrails like Akron Children's has in place at UA now at her previous programs including Case. I would have thought athletes at a school like Case would have been even more sensitive to these types of bullying tactics then DI athletes and it doesn't appear she had any of these types of issues at Case where she was incredibly successful. Definitely came in without the DI experience but other than that her resume was quite impressive and she is known to have deep ties with the local clubs though maybe the reputation was more known locally as those ties never did pay off for Akron. https://athletics.case.edu/sports/womens-soccer/roster/coaches/jen-simonetti/245

Sounds like she would have been a great high school JV football coach in the 1960s.

I would throw out the name Drew Crawford who was an assistant Zips men's coach and is now an assistant at Yale. North Canton native, knows the area, good character.

First named that I thought of was Brian Jankowski. A Strongsville native who was a volunteer assistant at Akron in 2010 and 2011 under Chris Pfau. Jankowski is currently the associate head coach at Ohio State. This program needs someone from NE Ohio that has D1 experience.

This is sad for women's soccer. But it is also an opportunity to get it right with a change in leadership. It will be the first chance for Goodrich to show that he can find the best coaches when openings arise. This program should be top of the MAC year in year out. In fact, like the men it should aspire and perform at a level higher than the MAC. If all that is in the Beacon report is true I am glad to see a change. Ignoring medical advice is a total focus on short term outcomes at the expense of long term success. Our ladies deserve better and we should demand it.

This program is a dumpster fire

some of the most concerning................. The investigation began this year after an Akron Children's Hospital sports physical therapist outlined a dozen concerns in an email sent to UA on Feb. 6. In the email, the physical therapist accused Simonetti of pushing back on medical advice, including when a concussed athlete was sent to the emergency room because she had unequal pupils. In another alleged incident, Simonetti told an athlete she was having shin pain because she was "unfit." That athlete was later diagnosed with a tibial stress fracture and was recommended for surgery, but a member of the coaching staff reportedly said the recommendation was made "because surgeons want money." Hospital staff, who sometimes worked with Simonetti, said they felt she ignored their injury reports.

Here's the Beacon article on the firing. Unfortunately it is paywalled. Some ugly allegations. I'll try to get a summary up later if I have time. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/education/2025/05/21/akron-zips-womens-soccer-coach-fired-jen-simonetti-platts/83742740007/

Jen Simonetti is no longer on the goZips website and Maggie Kuhn is listed as interim head coach. It would appear she’s been dismissed.

It seems crazy to me that they 'can't' sustain a baseline of football success there, as we have also struggled to do. They have 'flashes' of it every so often when they hit on a star player or coach like Edelman, Cribbs, Hazell, etc. I guess it's try, try again when they hire a new coach after this season. BTW, Antonio Gates is going into the HOF this summer.

ESPN posted an article ranking all FBS QB rooms. I thought some of you might enjoy this tidbit. https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/45145716/ranking-all-136-college-football-fbs-quarterbacks-tiers-2025-season

Best guess is he’s being brought in to play Nickel. He actually played well for CMU back in 2022 (excellent against the run and so/so against the pass), but his playing time’s taken a big dip since then.

Marshall transfer after time at Central Michigan. Not sure we are getting a player with much commitment or persistence. At this point we need to be content with leftovers.

Even though this is an anonymous sports message board, this thread has jumped the shark and lacks insightful and/or original thought. "Kent State sucks" and "Akron football players are dumb" are worn out tropes.

It's interesting if you Google maps where DJ is from - Macomb, MI. Macomb looks like it must be the very last suburb to the north in the Detroit area. It looks like a pretty densely populated area but then there is nothing but farm land to the north. Anyway, DJ is a Marshall transfer 💪

Here' a link https://247sports.com/player/dj-stepney-46081769/college-319350/

I agree my comment was snarky and it does not apply to all the football players just like our comments about Kent does not apply to all of the Kent student athletes. I am sure there are student athletes on our football team who do well academically so I would apologize to those players. I hate to be a hypocrite and find it hard to denigrate the Kent program with our own failings academically in football.

And another

Another DB

Not all of them, which makes comments like this particularly dumb.

Akron football players would be very upset if they could read this comment.

Kent just fired a coach for debt/legal problems after already extending him. There were allegations of verbal abuse, drinking on the job, etc. that they neglected to investigate. Their program has the nation's longest losing streak and is 1-23 these past 2 seasons (their lone win coming against a FCS squad). Whatever they did to circumvent the APR threshold is the least they could do. Akron's APR issue seems to have stemmed largely from Arth/Portal, and the APR is a joke regardless. If anyone is mired in a quicksand of stupidity, it's the NCAA. Kent basketball had 2 players quit the team last season (one was allegedly punched in the face by a teammate), they've had numerous DWI/DUI issues over the years, the 2022 diss track debacle, and a head coach who was part of a large recruiting scandal at Indiana (not to mention he called Akron the Yankees). In a college athletics world judged solely by what is done on the field of competition, Kent hasn't beaten Akron in football/men's basketball since March 2023. In addition, Akron are back to back MAC champs and have won 3 out of the last 4 MAC tournaments. Furthermore, regarding the high ground - speaking quite literally - Akron is located in SUMMIT County, and according to Britannica, sits at a higher elevation than Kent. It's over, Anakin. Akron has the high ground, and Kent State Still Sucks.

If you want to read postings, go to the football forum where our football team is the only team in the country to not qualify academically and cannot go to a bowl game. Kent players may suck and include want to be felons, but at least they can read and do not get lost on their way to class. Hard to take the high ground when our football program is mired in a quicksand of stupidity.

Great context on the current state of the conference vs prior with the 8 teams. Sounds similar to the decline of MAC soccer and the decision to disband all together. Seems like there should be more pressure from MAC schools on the MAC commissioner and leadership as it appears to be in major decline across so many sports. The other thing I think about as we’ve seen this run of success (in the conference) by Akron non-revenue sports (lacrosse, SB, T&F, S&D) is how the state of affairs in the NCAA and the UA enrollment / budget crisis will continue to impact positive momentum and progress. I think the good news is the coaches in place don’t seem like a bunch of whiners and will do what they can with what they have. But I have to imagine Coach Mitchell had a different (not saying easier) opportunity when Akron was at its height of enrollment. I heard or read somewhere there’s been close to a 50% decline since 2014 - staggering. Then you also factor in the cuts made during Covid that have never been reinstated. Different times - sad state of higher ed and college athletics for purists like me.

Hey there @ZipsBBjunkie, thanks for your response. I appreciate your teasing, really. I agree the "jousting" part is all in play. And I agree, all of these athletes deserve their due and recognition. They did accomplish something major, and a win is a win no matter when or where. They are truly champions. Thanks for reminding me of that. Please remember when Coach Mitchell won many, and also lost a few MAC titles there were 8 teams competing, which made it a little harder. And your point on XC is well taken as well. Coach Lab and Scotty were the XC coaches in reality but none the less, it was under Mitchell's watch. I don't "have anything against" the head coach as a person, and I admit I am biased because of the stature and respect that the Akron program had for so long in the 21st century. I've had some "up close and personal" time with her, and I scratch my head in wonder afterwards. When Coach Mitchell left, there were plenty of his coaches that were more than qualified to take over the program on a seamless basis. But then-Ad Guthrie decided to gut the staff and went this route. She was touted on her experience producing 'multis" champions, combined-event athletes, decathlon, pentathlon, heptathlon. During her tenure so far, Akron has not had a single combined-event athlete. Not one has competed in the Outdoor or Indoor MACS, and to my knowledge not one at the Akron Invitational. Her biggest accomplishment, IMHO, was to hire Randy Overby as her sprint coach. His success was followed by Tom Bojalad being hired for throws. These two are the driving force behind the recent successes. A good manager knows how to hire good assistant managers, I get it. You are right, my negativity should not gravitate to the fact that these athletes have won titles, both individually and as a team, in an NCAA DI program in a good solid Conference. They should be applauded and should get the recognition they deserve. I stand corrected, if it came across I was anti-Zips Athletes. It is, as you said, always a good thing when the Zips Win! Go Zips!